Lena-Winslow 31, Eastland 22: The shots weren’t falling for Lena-Winslow.

But the fourth-seeded Panthers were able to play tight defense and controlled much of their regional quarterfinal game against fifth-seeded Eastland.

The Panthers have excelled in low-scoring games this season, upsetting Pearl City 25-21 earlier this season.

“We don’t do it by design, it just kind of happens,” coach Kyle Benson said. “I thought Eastland’s defense was really, really good. We weren’t surprised they played 2-3, but they were really active in it. In terms of our low output, I’ll give them all the credit.”

The Panthers never let Eastland score more than seven points in a quarter as the Cougars never got anything consistently going offensively.
Lena-Winslow did a good job of playing tight man-to-man defense.

“We got up and played people,” Benson said. “In order for us to be successful, we need to do that.”

Man-to-man defense is what Eastland has been known for in the past, but the Cougars played a 2-3 zone that frustrated Le-Win.

“They were playing pretty good defense. They were extending pretty high up so we were having trouble getting to the wing.”

- GateHouse News Service